A blog dedicated to sharing information about the world of self-publishing with an emphasis on book marketing and using CreateSpace and Amazon's KDP. It is intended to be a source of information for both experienced and novice self-publishers alike.

Friday, April 26, 2013

I have no intention of becoming a comic book author or illustrator. I do however see the potential in this new Kindle format for me as a non-fiction author. Here is a way to illustrate a book, provide detailed information in captions and sell the finished book, albeit a "comic," to my readers. As they say, a photograph is worth a 1,000 words. Many of the concepts covered in my books are difficult to describe clearly in just words, but one photograph with a short explanation provides great clarity for the reader.

If you are interested in using this new type of Kindle book, the software can be downloaded for free by visiting the link below:

So far the only drawback I can see is for the time being the finished product can only be viewed on a Kindle HD or the Kindle Cloud. For the readers who purchase my non-fiction books, this limits the number of potential readers. Still, with the rapid advance of technology these days, I hope Amazon makes the finished product created by Kindle Comic Creator viewable on an ever increasing number of devices, including the older eInk Kindles.

For authors who desire to create children's books on Kindle, this may very well be the way to go about it!

I have downloaded the software and plan to play with it and try to learn how to use it and the various possibilities it might have for non-fiction use.

When I will find the time, I have no idea. I am still slowly trying to learn how to use Scrivener in what free time I can spare. This might have to take priority.

Amazon claims Kindle Comic Creator will aid the author in image placement by automatically placing images in the ideal location. It allows for easy previewing of the comic while in progress, allowing the author to determine if the viewed page is what he or she desires.

Kindle Comic Creator accepts the most common graphic file types, so
authors are able to create art in their preferred photographic design tools. Kindle
Comic Creator can import single or multi-page images in jpg, pdf, tiff,
png and ppm formats.

Anyone who has already tried this new software and has anything to say about it, good or bad, please comment.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Sometimes it is just easier to use the words from the company press release that it is to try and write your own version of the facts. Below is the announcement I received directly from Pubit! Hope you find it informative.

Dear Publisher,

Over the past two and a half years, our working partnership has made
PubIt! a resounding success. Because of PubIt! publishers like you,
we've been able to offer millions of NOOK® customers exciting new
content from independent authors.

Our success is your success, and we've been working hard to bring you a
platform that takes our partnership—and self-publishing—to the next
level. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you NOOK Press, our new and
improved self-publishing platform!

NOOK Press is self-publishing made simple. With the NOOK Press platform
you can write, edit, collaborate, publish and sell your eBooks all in
one place—at no cost.

The NOOK Press platform features these exciting new tools and services:

NEW! Instant Chat: Live Chat customer service is now available
to quickly answer your questions Monday through Friday between 9am-9pm
EST.

Pathway to Passionate Readers Everywhere: Publish once and
reach millions of customers using NOOK and NOOK Reading Apps in the US
and UK and more coming soon.

Same Great Terms: Our favorable PubIt! business terms and commitment to a transparent retail partnership remain unchanged.

NOOK Press Presents
Our booksellers are currently hand-selecting titles for a new merchandising program: NOOK Press Presents -- Our Top 100 Picks for Summer.
NOOK Press Presents will be an ongoing merchandising channel for
independently published content that comes to NOOK through NOOK Press.

Once you moved your existing PubIt! account to NOOK Press your titles
will be considered for this program, which will promote books across the
NOOK ecosystem.

Get started with NOOK Press today! Click here
to be guided through a quick, one-time account syncing process. Once
completed your PubIt! account, sales, payment, and title information
will automatically appear in NOOK Press. To find out more about the
changeover to NOOK Press, see our support page here.

We're excited to turn the page together on a new chapter in self-publishing!

I use eBook Architects for the conversion process of my books to Kindle and ePub formats. I have never had a problem with the finished product and the good people at eBook Architects are easy to deal with, are priced fairly (in my opinion) and actually deliver the work on schedule. In an age where craftsmanship and work are often shoddy, eBook Architects actually stands behind its work with a guarantee based on a quality control inspection.

I have done my own conversions, used CreateSpace to do Kindle conversions, but have settled on eBook Architects as the company to use for future conversions based on my past experiences.

Founded by entrepreneur Joshua Tallent in 2009 and located in Austin, Texas, the company has grown in size and the services it offers.

I recently received an update about the company. eBook Architects has been acquired by Firebrand Technologies. A quick check of the eBook Architects website and one will note there are no changes to the site other than the addition of the Firebrand Technologies logo.

Joshua is still the head of the company. It is my hope with new capital available eBook Architects will continue to grow and thrive and serve self-publishing authors for many years to come.

About Me

I am a veteran basketball coach with nearly 30 years of experience. I have been a high school coach and history teacher for 29 years! I'm married to the former Lisa Dian Green, my wife of 29 years, and we are the proud parents of 3 children, Danny, Katie and Emily, and four dogs, Angel, Sammy, Berkeley and Darcy.